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Annual mobile app
downloads are expected to reach a whopping 102 billion this year,
up from 64 billion in 2012, according to a Gartner prediction. Entrepreneurs and
businesses are also making record amount of money through
apps.
Apple
alone has paid out over $10 billion to third-party app
developers and Google Play
applications are bringing in over $1.1 million in daily
revenues.

That said, the cost of developing an app for the first time can
be prohibitive, especially when just testing the waters and
assessing customer demand.

Here are four ways to save on costs when developing your first
app:

Don't put the cart before the horse.
Did you know that the first version of Gmail was literally built
in a day? That's what the creator and lead developer of Gmail,
Paul Buchheit claims.

Unless you're sure of market demand for your app, do not go the
full course in developing a complete app with all the features.
The fact is, you will never know the reception for your app until
users start using it.

You want to use minimum resources to identify market demand. You
can do that by creating an app that offers only the core value of
the product -- that one reason or feature you anticipate will
drive customer to download and use your app.

All the other periphery features can be added later as app
updates, constituting the bulk of the development effort. This is
called releasing a Minimum Viable Product, or MVP. Successful
products have evolved over a period of time through constant
customer feedback. Just think of Gmail and all the useful
features it's developed over the years.

Don't spread your wings, just yet.
Wouldn't you like your app to be available to most smartphones
users to maximize downloads and make money? Surely, we'd all like
that.

But, even if you're certain customers will want your app, there's
still a good chance you'll be surprised by their feedback. The
first instance of your product is never the final one. It will
inevitably evolve over time.

That's why you should target just one app store to begin with.
You have limited funds. Why create something across platforms
that no one wants?

Develop for one platform, either iOS, Android or Windows. Choose
a platform based on where your customers are.

Once you get it right on the first platform and see good traction
from users, you can aim to provide a similar experience to users
on other platforms.

Don't reinvent the wheel.
Many services out there provide app developers with shortcuts
when building the first iteration of their app.

In developer-speak, these are called SDKs or library of
resources. There are many resources that offer various
application features and functionalities for a fee. For instance,
if you want to develop a chat or messaging feature in your app,
rather than building and maintaining the functionality from the
ground up -- a huge cost -- simply subscribe to a third-party
service that embeds chat features into your app.

Don't build a team.
One other way to keep costs low is to go with an outsourced
provider that understands your requirements rather than hiring a
team.

The most important thing for you at this moment is to get your
app in the hands of the customer. Outsourcing the design and
development will save on the cost of hiring a team. It will also
bring your product to market much faster because you'll save time
not having to recruit and hire a whole team from scratch.

If the idea of outsourcing makes you uncomfortable, know that
some of the most popular products used today were outsourced in
their initial days -- Alibaba, Fab.com, Digg and Skype.

Developing apps for the first time can be daunting and the design
and development costs don't make it any easier. When trying to
reduce costs, be sure you do not compromise on the quality or
core value of your app.